Anticipation
by Kolkaiyne
Summary: Jack's really nervous about something he's gotta do. Luckily, somebody's there to lend some moral support. JackxMaria


**Disclaimer, which I forgot, 'cause I'm a moron: I don't own harvest moon or any of these characters. **

**Author's note: This is obviously my first fanfic, but definitely not the first time I've written anything.**

It was a cold day in Flower Bud Village. It was so cold, in fact, that most of Flowerbud's usually unperturbed residents were taking refuge in their houses, with warm mugs of chocolate and happily burning fireplaces. One of the few who wasn't holed up in their house was Ann, and she'll come into play soon enough. The only other person who wasn't barricaded in was a young, handsome (If fairly simple, and somewhat shy.) farmer who was trudging through the thick, heavy snow that blanketed his farm.

"I can do this!" He thought to himself each time his boot sunk into the the heavy white powder. He was walking slowly, with a steady cadence and shivering, though not from the cold. He felt an abnormal chill, which, considering the temperature, would have given him hypothermia if it hadn't been in his head, as he passed through the wooden gates to Sunshine Farm & Ranch. He continued his steady march, though his thoughts changed from "I can do this!" to "I have to do this!"

"Hey!" said a voice from his left, causing him to jump, his backpack coming off and landing a short way away as he crashed into the snow, landing on his bottom.

Ann burst out in a fit of uncontrollable giggling. She was the very picture of good health and vitality. Her dull red hair came down to her waist, tied into a braid, and it almost matched her cheeks, which were bright red from the biting cold.

"It's not funny!" snapped Jack, getting up and brushing the snow off of his body. "You could seriously hurt somebody if you do that!"

Ann smirked and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. If they stay down for too long, they might get frostbite, but other than that, I don't think that snow is gonna cause any greivous injuries. So anyway, you wanna head up to the mountain with me? I hear they've opened up the mines, and there's lots of treasure down there!"

Jack shook his head, and scrambled over to his backpack. "I've got some really important stuff to do today, so I kind of have to get going."

"What could possibly be more important than hanging out with-" She stopped herself mid-sentence when she saw a tuft of blue plumage sticking out of the slightly opened zipper of Jack's backpack. "Oh!" She said, before being overcome by giggling once again. "Well, that is pretty important! Congratulations!"

Jack's face turned red very quickly. "I-I-I I don't know what you're talking about! I... uh... haven't really done anything... really worth... y'know, congratulating lately..." He looked at Ann, and made a break for the village. The village was empty, and cold, not just in temperature, but in feeling. It's emptiness made it feel like a ghost town, which was not helped by the fact that the wind was howling. Of course, he never got to properly appreciate this scenery, as he stopped dead as soon as he hit the cobblestones. "I can't do it!"

He inclined his head, his heart falling, and turned to exit the village.

He couldn't however, because as soon as he turned around, he found himself staring at Ann's shoes. He looked up and saw her standing there, arms crossed, frowning. Her sparkling blue eyes seemed to be be communicating a fair amount of disapproval.

"And where do you think _you're_ going?" She inquired.

"Well, I think I'm going-"

"I saw the feather, y'know. The blue one." Ann cut him off.

Busted! Jack had been afraid of this since she'd congratulated him. Still, he decided to play dumb. After all, he hadn't been in Flower Bud Village for that long...

"Oh that. Yeah, it was on sale at Rick's shop and I thought it looked nice, so I decided to buy it, that's all. I was going to put it up above my doorway or something." He said, smiling and acting as if this was a normal conversation.

A smile creept across Ann's face, but hers was there for a different reason than his. "Oh. Then what was the stuff that you had to do today?"

Jack tentatively opened his mouth to start explaining, but Ann just laughed at him. "You're a terrible liar, you know. Why don't you just admit it, huh?"

Jack looked down and sighed. "Ann... listen. I can't go through with this, not now. I just know that it'll end in disaster and that we'll just end up hating each other, so... so I'm not going to do it."

Ann simply shook her head, and leaned in close to Jack, seizing his hands and holding them against his chest. "I can see why you two like each other so much." She said. Jack simply stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Ann... I don't think that we should be doing this... I mean..." He trailed off, while avoiding her eyes.

This didn't stop Ann from delivering her spiel, however. "Listen, do you really want to be happy in your life? Not just content, but really happy? 'cause eventually, this chance is going to dissappear. If you don't seize it now, you'll spend the rest of your life questioning yourself. Twenty years down the road, do you want to be thinking 'If only I'd married her...'? Of course you don't. And..." She grimaced,and focused her eyes on something off in the distance "and... as much as I hate to admit it... I really care for you, Jack. And I really don't want to see you end up like that. So please, if you don't do it for yourself, do it for me, okay?" She dropped his hands, and stared at him with a concerned look on her youthful face.

Jack stood there for a moment, staring at her. What she'd said had made a lot of sense. As a matter of fact, she was right. Dead on, in fact! He really didn't know what to say, so he settled for a just nodding and thanking her.

Ann chuckled. "A better way to thank me would be just going and doing it, mmkay?"

And with that, Jack dashed off through the nearly dead village to deliver his proposition.

------

Maria was taking a short break from her usual routine of dusting, ordering, and rearranging. Today, she had her head buried in a book. This in itself wasn't unusual, but rather, it was her choice to neglect her work that made it odd. Usually she was buzzing about the library like a bee, always in search of the one book that was out of place, or the one shelf that needed dusting. But since she was on vacation, she felt that, even though she wasn't out collecting bugs or hunting up wild grass, that she had an inalienable right to not work.

So here she was, sitting in a cozy library, with a warm orange fire burning in the fireplace, seeming to welcome in visitors from the cold, reading about an ancient society, when Jack pushed the door open, bringing a blast of frigid air in with him.

Maria didn't mind, though. She liked Jack a lot. In fact, she loved him. He was always going out of his way to do nice things for her, like giving her some company on a day like this. She didn't harbor any illusions about his feelings for her, though. She knew that she'd only ever be a friend to him, and was ultimately resigned to this fact. She had read books, and she knew that she wasn't anywhere as outgoing, beautiful, smart, or compassionate as the heroines of her favorite novels. She wasn't any of those things, so who could love her? Who could love a clumsy, shy library girl, with goofy glasses, dull hair, no fashion sense at all, and a love for insects? Nobody. And especially nobody as wonderful as Jack. Still, no matter how many times she told herself these things, she just couldn't feel worthless when Jack was around.

She giggled a little, and got up to shut the door behind Jack. Jack smiled, and sat down at the small table across from Maria's book, and motioned for her to join him. She did.

"Oh.. Hi Jack! Um... how are things going?" She asked. She really was delighted to see him, but one couldn't tell that by listening to her, because Maria is not a very good communicator.

Jacked put on a small smile, and begun trying to explain his presence.

"Uh, hi Maria. I... I kind of need to talk to you..." He said, sounding as she usually did. "Well, um... we've known each other for... for two years now, and... and we've had some great times together..."

_"Wait a minute, what's he getting at? Is he? Nah, he couldn't be."_ Maria told herself firmly. She cocked her head to the left and said. "Yes. And?"

Ouch. That cut Jack's confidence down a bit. Still, he continued on with his explanation. "Well... um... you see... I got to... I got to thinking about things. Things like my future... and I thought about what you said that one day... and how happy you seemed when I gave you that book..." Jack trailed off here, and started to study the cracks in the desk.

Maria felt something warm and wonderful bubbling up inside her, but didn't know quite what to say, so she kept quiet and let Jack continue with his speech. "Well... what I meant to say was... Y'know... I... um... I think I love you."

_"This is obviously a joke! He's just gonna laugh at me, and then tell the whole village how stupid I am if I tell him! Don't say it!"_ Said a voice in the back of Maria's head. She ignored it though. She felt like she was soaring above the clouds, and she figured that a lifetime of humiliation was worth this feeling, even if it did last only a few minutes. She blushed, and looked away for a moment, while saying. "Um... wow. I... I suppose... yes, I do... I feel... I feel the same way you do."

Jack grinned at her. He could do it! He opened his backpack, and seized out the blue feather. "Then... then maybe you'll accept this?" He said, as he extended the feather across the table to her.

Instantly, all doubt in Maria's mind was wiped away, and the nagging voice stopped. Her heart felt like it was trying to leap through her ribcage. "Ah... If... if you'd take me... I think I'd be happy... with... with you..." She said. This time she'd gathered up enough courage to look him in the eyes and smile. She didn't think that anybody could be happier than she was right at that moment, and she was probably right.

Outside, Ann who'd been watching through the window, and Cliff who'd come by to see what she was up to, gave each other high-fives.

"I think they'll make a pretty good couple, don't you, Cliff?" She asked with a smirk.

Cliff grinned. "Yeah, and speaking of couples, I hear that Kai and Karen are gonna get hitched soon."

"That's it?" Asked Ann frowning, and sounding a little less than enthusiastic.

Cliff cocked his head, and asked "What's the matter with you? 'cause you don't seem all too happy with the good news."

Ann chuckled and shook her head. "Never mind, Cliffy boy. If you can't figure it out, you don't deserve to know. Look, I hear the mine's open, and they've got lots of treasure down there..."

**Author's note: Well that's it then. Reviews appreciated.**


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